The Indian Premier League continues on Friday when we head back to Eden Gardens for a clash between the Kolkata Knight Riders and the Sunrisers Hyderabad with both teams concluding the opening quarter of their IPL 2023 season.
Kolkata have won two of their opening three matches so are in a decent position to launch from early in the campaign. Sunrisers have won just one of their first three games so could do with nicking a win on the road here.
Kolkata Knight Riders
The Kolkata Knight Riders were beginning to look like the aging side that they looked on paper when they went down in their opening game. To be fair to them, the rain might have denied them the chance to win that match. It would have been a longshot but they had two of the biggest hitters in the game at the crease so it would have been wrong to rule them out. They have bounced back with a pair of victories though and suddenly look a much more progressive side.
I think it is fair to say that they stole a victory in their last match when they needed 28 from the last five balls of the match and then the unthinkable happened when Rinku Singh smacked them all for six. They won’t want to be in that sort of position again but with Jason Roy having arrived to offer up natural quality at the top of the order and a bowling attack which generally suits all conditions there are certainly reasons for the Knight Riders to feel good about themselves.
Sunrisers Hyderabad
The Sunrisers Hyderabad were nowhere near the races for their opening two matches of the season and that immediately sparked fears that this campaign would go west like the last few have but they offered up some hope last time out that now they are beginning to settle down and some leading players have arrived that there is a competitive element to them. They now need to back up that display with another one here else that win over the Punjab Kings will look a bit of an anomaly.
The big issue prior to the win over the Punjab Kings was their bowling. They went for over 200 in their opening match against the Rajasthan Royals and then the Lucknow Super Giants chased an inadequate total down in barely 16 overs. The addition to the ranks of Marco Jansen helped and when faced with a below par run chase of their own Hyderabad raced home courtesy of some brutal hitting from Rahul Tripathi. That win wasn’t just important for getting them off the mark for the season but also for keeping their run rate respectable.
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Key Players
Rahmanullah Gurbaz is still looking for a regular partner at the top of the order but while he waits for one of those to present themselves he needs to keep scoring because there aren’t too many in purple doing that at the minute.
Harry Brook was shoved up to open in the previous game to keep him away from the spinners. It was worth a go but would need another outing there to know once and for all if he can fill that role. His problem could be that Kolkata have spinners who can bowl in the powerplay.
Betting
You can pick holes in both of these sides but I think the Kolkata Knight Riders are the ones to be on here. They will know they got away with it against the Gujarat Titans last time out but they have reinforcements arriving to bolster where they have been weak so far this term. I think what we see with the Sunrisers Hyderabad is the best they have got. They really need Harry Brook to come good because they have spent too much on him to leave him out.
The issue I have with the Sunrisers in this match is they have not played spin at all well and in Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine the Knight Riders have a very potent spin combination. We saw in the previous game how their batting depth can get them out of trouble but if Jason Roy or someone of that ilk can get them off to a faster start those down the order won’t need to go as ballistic as quickly. I think overall Kolkata tick more boxes than Hyderabad and I’ll back them to come out on top here.
Tips
Back Kolkata Knight Riders to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betway
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